Surprise...Here It Is Tuesday...And Here I Am

Happy Tuesday from the rancho.  Life has been moving at the speed of light...I, however, am moving at the speed of tar on a winter's day...  I get up, go to work, come home, make meals, do some stitching, go to bed. Sometimes, I fit a nap in between one or more of my chores.  Actually, I'm fitting a lot of naps in between.

The heat has been HORRIBLE the past two weeks.  Most days are 100 degrees...and that's a cool day. I got in the car last week, it was 115 degrees on my car thermometer. Thank goodness it dropped to 111 degrees as I started down the highway.  Sigh.  I am getting too old for this.

My husband has brought a puppy into the house.  He has wanted an Australian Shepard for years, but never found the right one.  He has a friend that breeds cattle dogs and there was small female leftover after the last litter.  She was supposed to go to a woman that wanted to use her for agility trials, but backed out at the last minute.  Since the puppy was already 14 weeks, she wasn't as popular as the newer litters.  My husband's friend had been by several times since George died and knew that I was having a hard time.  She offered the puppy...but only if I was ready...  Not my breed, but hubby was very excited and I didn't say no.  We've named her Daisy.  She is not George and seems to be more of a family dog than MY dog.  I will take care of her, I will love her, but I don't know if she will ever hold my heart.  But it's okay...she's playful and fuzzy and very smart. Not house trained, but we're working on that.  I've already taught her to sit and wait.

Here is Daisy...yes, she has blue eyes...she will be on the small size, only about 30 pounds when she is full grown.

She lives in the house, but has a kennel out on the patio.  When she is in the house, her favorite trick is to CLIMB into her water dish, spread the water as far as possible, and then flop in the middle of the kitchen floor. She is very, very good at it. Due to the heat, she has a baby pool in her kennel with a few inches of water. She lays in it...and then flops in the dirt.  I see a pattern.  She gets a bath almost every day.  LOL

Since I'm not doing much yard work, I am getting a lot of stitching done.  Here is my progress on the last piece of my class project.  I will be done by the end of July.

The ladies at my table are always trading small gifts.  I decided to get some boxes that are the same shape as the class project.  I've painted them the coral shade (with green brush strokes) that is on the pincushion. Since there are keys and leaves in the stitching, I thought I would tie my boxes into the theme.  I found some small keys, made leaves out of felt, and will put a chocolate truffle in each one as my gift.  I think that they turned out very pretty.  

The one at the top left was my trial box.  Didn't like the color, much too peachy.  Pulled out more paint and found a pinker shade.  Much better.  I had the fabric in my stash and will take some extra with me to the class.  I know that we will use fabric to make one of the bags and I might use mine instead so that my stitcher's box matches my candy box. 

Well, I've run out of time.  Need to finish some Dad chores and head off to bed.  I've still got vacation photos...maybe next post.  I don't want to bore you too much at one time.  LOL

Be kind to one another.